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Advice on how to handle new dog.

I recently aquired a 2 year old black lab male, he has all the drive to retrive that you could ask for,but he has has no formal obedience training of any kind. Also I am by no means a professional dog trainer. What should be my first steps in getting this dog started on the right track? I just want him to be a well mannered hunting dog not a perfect trial dog or hunt test dog just a hunting buddy that will retrieve the game of the day whethr it be ducks, geese, or doves. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Are you willing to invest time and resources into this dog to the extent a working retriever deserves? Because Basic are Basics, and that's what he deserves. He's not aware of how old he is, so treat him like the new dog he is. Give him the training, and see how he does without placing unfair expectations upon him due to age.

Evan

"Prepare your dog in such a manner that the work he is normally called upon to do under-whelms him, not overwhelms him." ~ Evan Graham“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

By all means ,"train the dog you have" ....don't get hung up on age ...I believe most train by age and not the dogs needs ...An 8month OUGHT to be doing such and such ....You are not behind in the training process ..you are just starting later than most.... Sit is a good command to start with and then move here or heel ...Find a program the will give you an order or sequence to follow in teaching more commands ...Sometimes older dogs move through the program very well ...they don't have the puppy issues to deal with and they are more mature in nature...At one time the rule was don't start dogs until they were 1 to 2 yrs old...best wishes and enjoy the fun....Steve S

Find a local obedience class and sign up. Then sign up for the one after that. He will need lots of repetition and consistency, and the structure of a class will help you as an inexperienced trainer get him on the right track.

Start with "sit" and "here" but remember the dog is new to you so you are going to need to establish a bond so make it fun at first. He is a retriever so do a lot of that. Get some bumpers and do a lot of fun retrieving. Once you have him doing that. Intro him to feathers, and take it from there. Where you from?

By all means ,"train the dog you have" ....don't get hung up on age ...I believe most train by age and not the dogs needs ...An 8month OUGHT to be doing such and such ....You are not behind in the training process ..you are just starting later than most.... Sit is a good command to start with and then move here or heel ...Find a program the will give you an order or sequence to follow in teaching more commands ...Sometimes older dogs move through the program very well ...they don't have the puppy issues to deal with and they are more mature in nature...At one time the rule was don't start dogs until they were 1 to 2 yrs old...best wishes and enjoy the fun....Steve S

Originally Posted by mwk56

Find a local obedience class and sign up. Then sign up for the one after that. He will need lots of repetition and consistency, and the structure of a class will help you as an inexperienced trainer get him on the right track.

Meredith

I would follow the above advice.

"I love the rod and gun and where they take me."

"Do not judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins."

I personally would recommend Evans for the beginner for all the extra information you get about dogs in general...Rick's is pretty straight forward ...cut and dried, a program to follow ABCD and so on...Lardy's is good but can be a little overwhelming for a beginner..Farmer's is a good one too.. The only thing I know about Hillman's is his puppy dvd ...I don't know Dennis program but he does have a lot of great information to share on the subject...There is far more to learn about dog training than just following an ABCD flow chart ...Read , talk to, listen to what others are saying ,inquire ( ask questions ) ... Just my 2cents ...Steve S